Yankees sticking with Beltran as the primary DH

I’m still currently covering the third and final day of the MLB Draft, so the pregame notes are going to be a little short today. Here’s the short version of today’s main story:

Ever since Carlos Beltran returned from his elbow injury, he hasn’t picked up a glove and he hasn’t even thrown a ball. It seems the Yankees would rather have Beltran’s bat in the lineup instead of him fielding in right field. With the platoon of Alfonso Soriano and Ichiro Suzuki in right field, Joe Girardi didn’t want to put a date on when Beltran would be able to pick up a ball and throw.

“I don’t have a date for you on that.” manager Joe Girardi said. We’re trying to see how this goes to start out. At some point, we’ll probably get to the point where we’ll try it, but we have not put a date on that yet.”

So far, Beltran hasn’t complained of pain in his elbow, which is great news for the Yankees. They had just gotten him off the disabled list along with Yankees first basemen Mark Teixeira and the last thing they want is for Beltran to go back on the shelf.

“He’s come in every day and said he felt good,” Girardi said. “That’s the most important thing for me. He’ll start hitting. I know that. That’s not my concern. My concern is how he feels, and he feels good.”

Some Notes

— Shawn Kelley is slated to make a rehab appearance with the Trenton Thunder tonight at 7:05 p.m. However, while Kelley could return after this rehab stint, the Yankees are unsure whether he would re-take his role as the set-up man. It seems Girardi has found the bridge to closer David Robertson: Adam Warren and Dellin Betances.

— Awesome story: During the 29th round of the MLB Draft, the New York Yankees had drafted Mariano Rivera. No, not the Hall of Fame closer, but if you guessed that, you were pretty close. Instead, the Yankees drafted Rivera’s son. They did something like this in last year’s draft where they drafted Andy Pettitte‘s son, who ultimately opted to go to college. Rivera gave a scouting report on his son, saying that his velocity has ticked up a bit from last season. It will be interesting to see what Rivera Jr. decides to do, but I’m sure he’s just honored he was drafted by the same organization that his father played for in the last 19 seasons.